30 May 2011
This is true on two counts. Firstly, one of my project deliverables was to provide an assessement of the current state of APN Online's content loading procedure. This was to encompass all masteheads that fell under the APN Online banner including, nz herald, nz magazines and nz regional media websites.
As part of this, i have been spending a lot of time talking to the people who are involved in the states of both content creation and loading and gettting an understanding from them about what is working and what isnt.
While all this has been going on, the Fast Track recruitment has been going on as well.
So, I will be heading into Australia next week to tee up with the Australian Regional Group News Editor and if possible, drop over to Brisbane to see how they do things there before I head over to Sydney to prepare for the Fast Track Assessment centres which are scheduled for the week of the 6th (june).
To all participants, who have made it thus far... Congratulations and best of luck. The assessment centre will be one hell of a day..it will challenge you, it will push you and by the end of it you will be physically and mentally drained. It wont be easy.. but hey, if it was, it wouldn't be worth it :)
Showing posts with label brisbane. Show all posts
Showing posts with label brisbane. Show all posts
Monday, May 30, 2011
Friday, October 8, 2010
Its the final countdown...
8 October 2010
One week to go.
Time is fast approaching as I get ready to leave NZ Magazines for my new destination.
We had lunch today with the transition project team as a way to say thank you for everyone who had put in a lot of work (some even working right through the weekend) to make this transition as smooth as possible. It was a great opportunity for everyone to sit around some yummy Thai food (Thanks Sam and Sarah!) and not talk about work or the challenges with the project.
Andrew at lunch asked me a question; What would I miss most about NZ Magazines? This is actually a very tough question and as I pondered over the answer, I realise that its impossible to put down the one thing that I would miss most about this place. This experience has been amazing to say the least; challenging, rewarding and a big learning opportunity.
Time to start looking for accommodation. Sydney gets the usual bad rep for being expensive but Brisbane is at par, if not worse!
One week to go.
Time is fast approaching as I get ready to leave NZ Magazines for my new destination.
We had lunch today with the transition project team as a way to say thank you for everyone who had put in a lot of work (some even working right through the weekend) to make this transition as smooth as possible. It was a great opportunity for everyone to sit around some yummy Thai food (Thanks Sam and Sarah!) and not talk about work or the challenges with the project.
Andrew at lunch asked me a question; What would I miss most about NZ Magazines? This is actually a very tough question and as I pondered over the answer, I realise that its impossible to put down the one thing that I would miss most about this place. This experience has been amazing to say the least; challenging, rewarding and a big learning opportunity.
Time to start looking for accommodation. Sydney gets the usual bad rep for being expensive but Brisbane is at par, if not worse!
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Day 3 after Go live day
06 October 2010
This past weekend has been hectic. Everyone pitched in and it was fantastic to see the team working as one…. facilities with IT; IT with production. Excellent!
We shut down Pacific Magazines on Friday morning and started the move process. The movers were in there early and things started getting underway. In the mean time, the IT boys were working hard to make sure that they were ready when the equipment was shifted over to APN premises.
A lot of people worked right through the weekend to ensure that come Monday, things would be ready to go.
I walked in on Monday with an expectation that a lot of things would go wrong. Probably sounds pessimistic but just the scale of the move and the time that we had to get it done wasn’t filling me with a lot of confidence. So, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that as of home time on Monday, we had a few teething issues but nothing major.
The new staff were in, looking around at the new environment. The NZM staff were probably as curious as them and it was surreal watching the interaction.
Having said that, Things overall were running smoothly! It was an amazing feeling.
There are still a few things here and there that need to be tidied up but I am happy with how this has come about.
Now that this project comes to an end, I can start looking at the next one that is coming up in Brisbane. More on that in the coming days
This past weekend has been hectic. Everyone pitched in and it was fantastic to see the team working as one…. facilities with IT; IT with production. Excellent!
We shut down Pacific Magazines on Friday morning and started the move process. The movers were in there early and things started getting underway. In the mean time, the IT boys were working hard to make sure that they were ready when the equipment was shifted over to APN premises.
A lot of people worked right through the weekend to ensure that come Monday, things would be ready to go.
I walked in on Monday with an expectation that a lot of things would go wrong. Probably sounds pessimistic but just the scale of the move and the time that we had to get it done wasn’t filling me with a lot of confidence. So, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that as of home time on Monday, we had a few teething issues but nothing major.
The new staff were in, looking around at the new environment. The NZM staff were probably as curious as them and it was surreal watching the interaction.
Having said that, Things overall were running smoothly! It was an amazing feeling.
There are still a few things here and there that need to be tidied up but I am happy with how this has come about.
Now that this project comes to an end, I can start looking at the next one that is coming up in Brisbane. More on that in the coming days
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Project Rook continues…
14 Sep 2010
The last fortnight has been a bit of a blur. Once the announcement took place, there has been discussion all around with almost everyone taking their own view of what lies ahead. We had gone through and created a FAQ document before the announcement to anticipate questions that people might have from all departments and try and answer those. This was a great help and definitely assisted all of the management team to give correct answers when asked.
I asked Andrew if I could sit in when the announcement was made to his team and was glad that he agreed. It gave me an opportunity to see first hand, the reaction of the team and the kind of questions that people asked and whether our FAQ was adequate or not. It felt great to see that almost all the questions that were asked were ones that we had covered! The team were quite positive and looking forward to having Pac Mags on board.
So what has been happening in the last fortnight? We have had our weekly project meeting which I chair and involves all stakeholders right across the project (from facilities through to IT; advertising through to finance and everything in between). The main thought process behind this was to make sure that people understand the impact their task has on the next area and the flow on effect it creates if not done.
Happy to say that everyone has been quite positive although I can imagine it would be a bit ‘boring’ for people who have nothing to do with another area to sit and listen. I am hoping that this will create a better understanding of what each department does and also how to work better in a collaborative way to be successful. It amazes me to think that these meetings might be the first time that these key people in the business had a chance to get together in a room!
The NZ Mags move has also happened with the new floor layout and desks and people being shifted. As is to be expected, some people are openly unhappy with their new surroundings, the way their desk is facing and I even got one complaint about the colour of the desk not being right!
Things coming up next….
My next project block seems to be pointing to Brisbane but will require a few more finishing touches before its ready to go. Once I get that sorted, I am planning to make a trip to Tauranga and Whangarei to get an understanding of the operations there and build some relationships with some key people there too.
I have just received a meeting invite along with Sarah to give an update on the project to Martin Simons (Group Publishing Chief Executive) and Phil Eustace (Finance Director - NZ) on Monday 20 Sep. Looking forward to it!
The last fortnight has been a bit of a blur. Once the announcement took place, there has been discussion all around with almost everyone taking their own view of what lies ahead. We had gone through and created a FAQ document before the announcement to anticipate questions that people might have from all departments and try and answer those. This was a great help and definitely assisted all of the management team to give correct answers when asked.
I asked Andrew if I could sit in when the announcement was made to his team and was glad that he agreed. It gave me an opportunity to see first hand, the reaction of the team and the kind of questions that people asked and whether our FAQ was adequate or not. It felt great to see that almost all the questions that were asked were ones that we had covered! The team were quite positive and looking forward to having Pac Mags on board.
So what has been happening in the last fortnight? We have had our weekly project meeting which I chair and involves all stakeholders right across the project (from facilities through to IT; advertising through to finance and everything in between). The main thought process behind this was to make sure that people understand the impact their task has on the next area and the flow on effect it creates if not done.
Happy to say that everyone has been quite positive although I can imagine it would be a bit ‘boring’ for people who have nothing to do with another area to sit and listen. I am hoping that this will create a better understanding of what each department does and also how to work better in a collaborative way to be successful. It amazes me to think that these meetings might be the first time that these key people in the business had a chance to get together in a room!
The NZ Mags move has also happened with the new floor layout and desks and people being shifted. As is to be expected, some people are openly unhappy with their new surroundings, the way their desk is facing and I even got one complaint about the colour of the desk not being right!
Things coming up next….
My next project block seems to be pointing to Brisbane but will require a few more finishing touches before its ready to go. Once I get that sorted, I am planning to make a trip to Tauranga and Whangarei to get an understanding of the operations there and build some relationships with some key people there too.
I have just received a meeting invite along with Sarah to give an update on the project to Martin Simons (Group Publishing Chief Executive) and Phil Eustace (Finance Director - NZ) on Monday 20 Sep. Looking forward to it!
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